Get Even More GQ This Month

Corners, re-brightened

More retiring than _Slanted and Enchanted, _ more cohesive than _Wowee Zowee, _ Pavement’s fourth album, 1997’s _Brighten the Corners, _ struck a radio-friendly note—one that purists, weaned on Wowee Zowee’s meandering yelps, greeted with some suspicion. (It didn’t help that lead singer Stephen Malkmus still sometimes told interviewers that WZ was "the last classic Pavement record.") But a decade-plus later, listening to Matador’s remastered-with-extras Brighten the Corners: The Nicene Creedence Edition makes one wonder what exactly the faithful were up in arms about. The singer’s byzantine lyrics are as befuddling as ever, and bounce—in the space of a song—from gibberish to tossed-off profundity. ("Praise the grammar police, set me up with your niece," he commands in "Transport Is Arranged," before launching into a couplet worthy of a stoned psalmist: "I swung my fiery sword, I vent my spleen at the Lord/ He is abstract and bored—too much milk and honey.") The band, though quieter, is anything but limp, and the rhythm section, led by Steve West’s drumming, is the standout. The Nicene Creedence Edition is a great way to discover this, and for longtime fans and even casual appreciators, the plentiful extras just sweeten the deal. These odds and ends (the best of which, like the Stooges-esque b-side "Wanna Mess You Around," or "Oddity," a frizzled cover of seminal New Zealanders The Clean, are fully excellent) make up an integral part of the band’s oeuvre. For 14 bucks, it’s a service—and a bargain—to have them collected in one place. A listen or two may persuade you to disagree with the tetchy Malkmus of interviews, or at least help you answer the question he himself poses on the album’s "Embassy Row": "Where is the savoir faire?" From these discs, that’s a no-brainer: Right here.

Also available from Matador today: Cat Power’s vinyl- and digital-only Dark End of the Street EP, the latest of Chan Marshall’s covers records, featuring the chanteuse’s smoky versions of CCR, Aretha Franklin, and the title track, a Muscle Shoals classic popularized by James Carr.

Brighten the Corners: The Nicene Creedence Edition, $13.99, and Dark End of the Street EP, $13.99, available at amazon.com

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (effective 1/4/2014) and Privacy Policy (effective 1/4/2014). GQ may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with prior written permission of Condé Nast.